Superfund Research Program
Training Core
Project Leader: David W. Hein
Co-Investigator: Daniel J. Conklin
Grant Number: P42ES023716
Funding Period: 2017-2022
Project-Specific Links
- Project Summary
Project Summary (2017-2022)
Interdisciplinary research remains an important feature of the NIH Roadmap. An integrated investigation of chemicals at the University of Louisville Superfund Research Program (UL SRP) Center is addressing the effects of exposure on health outcomes related to cardiometabolic disease. The central hypothesis of the UL SRP Center is that exposure to the environmental chemicals, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) causes/exacerbates insulin resistance, leading to cardio-metabolic disease.
The Training Core trains pre- and post-doctoral fellows not only in laboratory-based research, but also in effective communication of the research findings to others in the projects, as well as to the communities described in the Community Engagement Core. The Training Core develops graduate courses for trainees to be shared with the University of Louisville Schools of Engineering, Dentistry, Medicine and Nursing and the College of Arts & Sciences, providing the latest information about the chemistry and human health effects of volatile organic compounds. The Training Core also contributes to the professional and undergraduate training programs by providing trainees as seminar speakers or lecturers to the university’s undergraduate biology and chemistry honors students, to nursing, dentistry, and medical students, and to teachers and high school students in the Jefferson County School System to communicate the role of chemical exposure in human disease.
Finally, trainees participate in meetings with the West Louisville Task Force and the Metro Louisville Public Health and Wellness Department with the Community Engagement and Research Translation Cores to engage in discussion and answer questions about the research projects and participate in regulatory science by contributing to policy making. Each trainee is assigned a specific project to experience how to translate research findings into concepts that can be transmitted effectively to the community, various local/state agencies, and university audiences alike.